My Year in Shenkuu
by Starer of the Moon
Summary: Tanny thought that it would be a pleasure to be back at Shenkuu. However, was her Queen Buzz neighbour really go to allow that?
1. Part 1

A/N: This is my Neopian Times series, the first part of which you will find in issue 325. My account is _jc1993 _(with an underscore between the 'j' and the 'c'), and this is a collaboration with _heeken_, who does not happen to have an account on fanfiction.

_

* * *

_

**My Year in Shenkuu**

_Part 1:_

Despite the fact that there was nothing to soften the hard bamboo, Tanny happily allowed herself to fall backwards onto the ground. After all, for someone as intelligent as her, surely losing a few brain cells could not matter. Her luggage stood in the doorway, still waiting to be opened. However, she was not going to do that just now; the lengthy travel was more than enough to tire the little split Pteri out.

Just from her spot on the ground, she could already spot a few faults in the roof – if it rained, as the weather report said it would, the room was definitely going to get wet. That discovery did not matter at all, though. It was not as if Tanny was in the mood to care; she could always fix it later, and having lived in Maraqua for such a long time, a bit of water did not bother her at all. The main thing now was to look around Shenkuu. Having left her birthplace for a whole year, Tanny was interested in seeing how things have changed.

It was only when she forced herself up again that she noticed she had a backyard. Curiously, she flew out, and took a deep breath of the fresh air. Already, she could pick up random scents of daisies, roses, and whatever else the previous owner had planted. As she scanned around, she saw the many plants that were there, and groaned. Tanny had always found gardening extremely bothersome, even back in Maraqua where she practically did not have to care at all for the kelp. Sighing, she inspected the garden for any pests, but to her surprise, there were none.

"I'm so happy today! Tanny is so happy to be back in Shenkuu!" she trilled. Suddenly, she no longer felt tired. From another neohome, some music floated through the air into her garden, and Tanny immediately recognised it as her favourite. Happily, she sang along to it, not noticing as she began to go higher and louder. In fact, if it was not for Aceliane's timely intervention, it could be said that, despite her relatively likeable voice, quite a few of Tanny's neighbours would have received permanent ear damage due to the noise level and pitch.

However, having said that, the little conversation between the two did not mean it was any more pleasant. As soon as the delicate paws of the purple, clothed Acara (or, Royal, as they call it) drew back her curtains, the others knew it was trouble. Tanny, on the other hand, was oblivious to what she had just done.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked the Acara in the voice of those in the higher society. It sounded sweet, but the venom in it was obvious.

"Err…singing…" Tanny replied a little shakily. "Is there anything wrong?"

Instead of the conventional '_not really'_ that the Pteri had expected, the reply was quite different.

"_Everything's_ wrong!" shrieked the Acara. "You're out of tune…"

"Really?"

"Yes! Of course you are!"

Tanny was about to rebut, but after being shot an extremely offended look from the Acara, she decided otherwise.

"What note should it be?"

In reply, the Acara hummed two notes, ending her 'lesson' by saying arrogantly, "See?"

Slowly, Tanny nodded, although her sharp ears could not catch the difference between the two sounds. Just before she managed to 'thank' her 'teacher', though, the Acara spoke.

"And also, your voice is absolutely terrible! Awful! As you see, you have no talent whatsoever for singing. Why don't you just quit it?"

"But singing…"

"What singing? You mean, that squawk is what you call singing?!" As she spoke, the Acara examined Tanny closely. "And…split coloured…what are you? A cheap version of royalty that couldn't afford the rest of the purple paint and some clothing?"

Tanny had enough. Although she knew that there were some irrational people in the world, her tolerance had died down. It was time to get irrational herself.

"Oh, and what are you? A cheap Neopet who dropped purple oil paint on themselves and couldn't afford the royal paintbrush, so made them out of cheap scrap cloth to cover up?"

"I'm one hundred percent royalty, thank you very much! And compare my figure to yours. Look at you! You're so fat, I'm starting to wonder whether you're a Skeith in disguise!"

"Hey—"

"But then, we might find out later, because _real _Pteris can actually fly…"

The constant arguing obviously began to annoy the neighbours, for not long after, they heard someone shout, "If you two don't be quiet, I'll go ring the Defenders of Neopia!"

The threat worked rather well. The Acara shot a glare at Tanny, but said no more. The Pteri would have commented, except she did not want to be hated since the day of her arrival in her new home.

With a final 'HMPH!', the Acara slammed her window down and pulled her curtains close. In reply, Tanny stormed inside her neohome and slammed the door.

_Irrational people…_thought Tanny angrily as she poured herself a drink (by spilling half of what she poured onto herself). _Neoschool had _better_ be better than that…_

Nervously, Tanny stepped into the classroom.

"Everyone," said Mr Wuth, the black Lupe with dark blue robes, "This is a new student, Citanula…Would you like to introduce yourself?" He turned to her, and gestured towards the rest of the class. Tanny sighed inwardly – it looked like he did not expect an answer for the question.

Stammering, she began. "Hello…well…I-I'm Citanula…but most people call me Tanny…"

Was it just her, or did half the class suddenly just began examining her closely? No, maybe she was just sensitive…

"Good, Tanny. Now, if you don't mind, sit next to Nell over there." Mr Wuth pointed to a rebellious-looking blue Wocky in the third row, and Tanny shuffled over. As she sneaked glances at him, she saw he had so many piercings that it was a wonder his skin was still intact. As she caught him watching her intently, she turned away nervously and began unpacking.

Taking out her new pencilcase and notebook, she began copying down the notes Mr Wuth had started to write on the board. She was so intent on her work that she had not noticed when Nell took her pencilcase and looked through it, picking out certain objects.

"What are you doing?" asked Tanny when she finally realised her pencilcase was inaccessible to her. "I need to put my pen back."

"I'll do that," replied Nell, reaching out for her pen. However, as he did, he paused, grabbed it, and stared at it.

"Wow! You have some quality stationery! I like it!"

Tanny's protests went unheard as he moved half of her pens into his pencilcase, and zipped it up. As she tried to get it back, though, Mr Wuth saw, and shot her a disapproving glance.

Just then, the bell rang, and Nell shot up straightaway, roughly jamming everything back into his bag. Tanny stood up as well and tried to held him back, but he shook her off easily.

"Sorry, I don't want to be late for my next lesson! Bye! And thanks for the stationery!"

Before he had even finished talking, he was out of the room.

Sighing, Tanny stared woefully at her own pencilcase.

Similarly, the rest of the day went rather unwell for Tanny. First, she was held up when, in between classes, a large green Scorchio demanded her lunch Neopoints. After she gave half of what she had to him, just so she could get to class on time (which she did not), she received a ten-minute lecture from the teacher. Although she did believe that people should bring joy to others when they could, it made her feel no better when the class laughed out loudly. Very loudly.

During lunch, her tray was accidentally knocked over by a group of giggling Aishas, who had not even stopped to apologise. Luckily, most of the food was still in the bowl, but after a telling off from the cafeteria ladies, she had to mop it all up, including what she was planning to eat. Considering she never enjoyed chores, the experience was not so pleasant.

Then, after lunch, as Tanny asked for directions to the maths classrooms, she was lead by some mean seniors to the toilets. When she finally found the rooms after looking around the whole school, she was again reprimanded by her teacher, except only twice as loudly. This almost left the little Pteri wondering if her friends back in Maraqua had heard it.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Tanny walked out of the school gates, both physically and mentally exhausted. Not only had she had one bad incident after another, she had also lost at least five thousand Neopoints altogether from stolen stationery and lost lunch. Then, she saw the one person she did not want to.

"Hello, Tanny. How was your first day at school?"

The voice was familiar. As Tanny turned her head, she saw her Acara neighbour from the other day, and gulped.

The latter walked closer, and held out a paw. "I'm Aceliane, Celi for short. Nice to meet you."

Just like in their argument, the sweet voice was filled to the brim with venom.

"H-h-hi…" mumbled Tanny nervously as she reached out to take the Acara's hand, but the paw shot back as quick as lightning. Behind her, Tanny heard an outburst of giggles. She recognised the voices of the giggling Aishas in the cafeteria.

"I just wanted to ask how your day had been," continued Aceliane, insincerity leaking from her voice like a dripping tap. "And I just wanted you to meet some of my friends…"

Tanny's eyes widened as Aceliane waved in different directions. To her surprise, everyone smiled and waved back. The situation was evidently not in her favour.

"Anyway, I have a major assignment due soon. I must be going. Goodbye." As she watched the disappearing figure of the Acara, Tanny suddenly understood.

Aceliane was the Queen Buzz of the Swarm, and Tanny had already landed herself in the bad books.

* * *

Well, read and review, and I hope you enjoyed it! 


	2. Part 2

_**Part 2:**_

In the blink of an eye, almost half a year had passed, but Tanny's life had not been made any easier. In fact, due to Tanny's repeated attempts to apologise (albeit half-heartedly) to Aceliane, the little Queen Buzz had ordered her Swarm to attack the outsider even harder.

It was no surprise that Tanny was soon down to her last few Neopoints.

Of course, she could always ask to borrow some from her foster siblings. An even more permanent solution could be selling her Shenkese home and moving back to Maraqua, but Tanny was much too patriotic to do that. And plus, she never accepted defeat easily. If she had to squash the Queen Buzz in order to have a more normal life, then so be it.

Tanny did not have any friends, either. The Shenkese Neoschool was rather new, and therefore it was not very populated. All the currently enrolled Neopets belonged in one of the three groups: Aceliane's friends, Aceliane's 'bodygards', or those who feared Aceliane's 'bodyguards'. Whichever category they fitted in, it was not the smartest idea to start getting friendly with this rebel.

The only thing that kept Tanny's mind off things was homework. Of course, pleasant conversations (which were actually just her finding a victim and ranting until they fell asleep) did wonders as well, but few of them dared to visit her for the above reason. So, within no time, the Pteri's grades skyrocketed and she began topping the grade.

Queen Buzz was not exactly happy about that.

Then, as if things were not bad enough, came the half yearly exams. It was not too bad, actually – just the simple few subjects of maths, language, history, science, spelling, potions and physical education – but quite obviously the other students did not think so. And what was even worse was that Tanny came first overall in the grade and received a one-thousand Neopoint reward.

Coming first in the grade was actually an achievement! The only problem was that Aceliane did not accept defeat easily, either. And of course, it was not as if she was going to let Tanny walk out the school peacefully with her cheque.

Unfortunately for Tanny, her dreams of buying replacements of everything she had lost were shattered.

It was another normal school day. Tanny was pushed into the lockers three times, tripped over four times, hit by water bombs twice, and sneered at who-knows-how-many times.

What was not quite so normal was having the whole grade crowd around the grade noticeboard. Usually, the Pteri was the only one that bothered. Being left out, she obviously wanted to take a look at what was going on. However, there was no need. From the random scraps of conversation and shouts she could catch, a little picture of the big news began to form in her mind.

"Wow, five thousand Neopoints to the winner of the grade!"

"Not only that, all honorary mentions receive five hundred Neopoints!"

"I bet I'll win—"

"I want that twenty thousand Neopoints! Not that I won't get it…I'm the best singer in the school…"

Tanny had heard enough, and turned to walk away, a large smile on her face. She was alright at singing – she still had a few awards at her Maraquan school – and twenty thousand Neopoints would be a neat sum of money.

Twenty thousand Neopoints…not only would that be able to buy her some more stationery, but it also filled up the emptiness of Tanny's wallet, which had been steadily deflating. Maybe some day she should open a bank account, because no matter how little, she desperately needed some interest.

Twenty thousand Neopoints…

Twenty thousand Neopoints…

The thought repeated itself over and over in Tanny's head as she played through all her favourite songs. Which ones would she perform?

Twenty thousand Neopoints…

The Pteri's eyelids felt heavy. She let them droop over her eyes. A small smile came to her lips.

Twenty thousand Neopoints…

Tanny let go of her consciousness and drifted to sleep.

Tanny shook nervously as she looked around at the other contestants. Most were dressed incredibly well, and she found herself staring at her plain grey dress a little unhappily. If only she had borrowed a few dresses from Ferrellin before she left Maraqua…

An icy feeling passed over her, and instinctively, she scanned around the room. Aceliane was staring at her as the Acara put on some more eyeliner. As much as the Pteri hated to admit it, she did look rather pretty. In fact, if this was a beauty contest, she would easily win. Luckily, it was not.

"Contestant number one!" came a shout from the outside. Gracefully, a faerie Peophin stood up, looked down her nose at everyone else in the room, and walked up to the stage. Just then, a chain of jumbled syllables and random screeches floated into the room.

_Hmm…no control over her voice…lyrics need to be clearer…_thought Tanny as she listened. That was one contestant she did not need to worry about.

Similarly, she silently criticised the twenty-six contestants that followed the faerie Peophin. Her self confidence began rising as she did. Even if she did not win the twenty thousand Neopoints, she was quite sure that she would get at ten thousand Neopoints as a reward for third place.

"Contestant number twenty-seven!"

Aceliane stood up, smiled coldly at Tanny, and gave her a 'you-will-so-be-owned-by-me' look. Straightening her dress, she elegantly walked up the stairs.

_Really?_ Tanny thought smugly as the Acara disappeared. _I think I'm going to be the one that owns you_…

Just as quickly as her confidence went up, it went back down again when the Acara began singing. And just as Tanny wanted to deny her beauty but could not, the same thing happened with her voice. By the end of the song, she was shaking, and did not even know why.

"Contestant number twenty-eight!" shouted the tiny red Kiko, who was sitting on his best friend, a rib Jubjub. Taking a deep breath, Tanny stood up, straightened herself, and walked up to the stage.

"Over here, please," said the Jubjub, who hopped over. His friend, the Kiko, handed the microphone to Tanny. Thankfully, she took it, and they hopped off the stage.

The Pteri gulped as she faced towards the sea of Neopets in front of her. She had not gained a good reputation at the school, and she had not been performing for a long time. However, thinking of the prize money, she took a deep breath, and began to sing.

"Flying…reaching for the stars…"

The audience cheered loudly, and confidence filled Tanny once more. With a much more powerful voice, she finished the song, smiling widely with relief as she handed the microphone back to the Kiko-Jubjub pair.

"Thank you for the wonderful performance, contestant number twenty-eight!" they said in unison, gesturing towards the stairs. Tanny's smile faded a little when she remembered that all she was dignified with was a number. However, as she faced the audience once more, she forced the wide smile back up, and walked off the stage with many cheers.

As she walked out of the hall, she sneaked a glance at Aceliane. Although she had not looked for long enough to be certain, she was quite sure that the Acara had a very unhappy expression on her face. And knowing the Acara, that must have meant she did rather well.

Good enough to claim the major prize, anyway.

This was the day. This was the long-awaited day for Tanny. This was day when she would receive her precious twenty thousand Neopoints.

Yes, so, Aceliane was popular. However, luckily, that was only within the grade, which meant Tanny had enough votes outside of the grade to keep her in first place. That did not mean she loosened her guard though – Aceliane came close, only a few points behind, and they had caught each other listening to each other practising.

Tanny gripped the edges of her dress, but it was only out of habit – after six rounds of singing and coming first, she had found her lost confidence again.

So, when contestant number twenty-eight was called out, she walked – no, glided – onto the stage just as elegantly as all the other royal Neopets, and paused for effect as the crowd cheered.

As she raised the microphone to her beak, the cheers, died down, and she began to sing. It was a nice song – great melody, meaningful lyrics, and sung by the very well-known and much liked Shenkese singer, Sin Ying the Kau. And with her confidence full to the brim, Tanny managed to give the best performance she could ever remember.

Not that it was very surprising – who would not for twenty thousand Neopoints? None of her other competitions had any more than a measly few hundred.

However, things might have been better if Tanny and the crowd were not so deep into the song. Just after the third verse, Aceliane's friend, Skrylix the blue Aisha, nudged her urgently.

"Are you really going to let that…thing…take the money?" she asked, looking up at the Acara in surprise. Aceliane smiled slyly.

"I'm not stupid. It's obvious the crowd would like her. However…" From an unseen pocket, she produced her best inanimate friend, a wind-up Zytch. "I did a little research, and apparently, unlike me, the kid really doesn't like bugs."

As they turned to look on the stage again, they could hear the Pteri's voice building up slowly. Tanny was prepared to give the best ending she had ever given…

…Not that she was allowed to have it her way.

As the song flowed into the last chorus, Aceliane quickly wound up the little robot, and handed it to Skrylix, who sneaked over to the stage and precisely judged the angle to set the Zytch off at.

Tanny opened her eyes again when she heard a quiet, but annoyingly constant clicking sound. At that moment, although she was still singing, it had lost the magic, and many of the audience were beginning to lose interest. Then, she saw the creature she had hated so much.

_No, Tanny, you're performing, you can't scream now!_ Tanny yelled at herself mentally. She forced herself to smile, desperately ignoring all the sweat drops that began to slide down her feathers.

Although the result was not quite as dramatic as Aceliane had wanted it to be, it did the job. In nervousness, Tanny had forgotten the last line, and was shaking all over by the time the song was over.

Skrylix, Aceliane, Tanny and two other finalists sat there, waiting anxiously for the judging to end. Even though no one could see the remaining contestants, the tension was so great that most of them felt it.

"And…"

A loud sigh of relief came from everyone when the Kiko-Jubjub pair spoke. They looked around, surprised, oblivious to everyone's eagerness to know the results.

"Anyway…we have the results!" they announced in unison. The Kiko held up a tiny red card.

"Fourth runner-up is…"

There was a long, dramatic pause.

"Contestant number fourteen – Skrylix the blue Aisha!"

The school burst out in applause as she walked up, curtseying every second step. After being handed her prize money, a small bag and a bunch of flowers, she curtseyed once more before rushing off the stage.

Tanny sighed in relief. She had not come fifth.

Nor fourth or third, since the two other contestants were called.

Now, she was the only one left in the room. Well, along with Aceliane.

_Please…I need the prize money!_ The Pteri crossed her fingers hopefully.

"First runner-up…Contestant number twenty-eight – Citanula the split Pteri!"

_What?!_

Tanny groaned inwardly, forced a smile, and began ascending the steps up to the stage. However, just before she went, Aceliane spoke in a tone she did not like.

"You did really well, Tanny. It's just that…it's unfortunate that the Zytch showed up at that moment."

The twinkling in the Acara's eyes immediately told Tanny who the culprit was.

"Thanks," she said as sweetly as she could, and walked up to the stage. Just like the others, she received a small bag, a bunch of flowers, a bag of Neopoints, as well as a small silver trophy. To her disappointment, they had not accidentally given her the twenty thousand Neopoints.

My_ twenty thousand Neopoints…_she thought angrily as she walked off the stage, desperately trying to keep her anger under control. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Aceliane smirk. How she wished she could wipe it off…even better, with the strongest acids from the Korbat's Lab!

When their eyes met, they exchanged murderous glares. It was quite lucky no one else saw it, or else they might have been sued for causing unnecessary harm to others. Of course, no one would have really wanted that.


End file.
